Questions regarding äitysraha (maternity pay)

[network_engineer]

Hi all,

1. Does anybody here have an idea of how the amount of the äitysraha (maternity pay) is calculated? An in-depth clarification would be greatly appreciated.

2. When the income to be used as the basis for calculating the maternity pay is reported, is it so that the incentives are also calculated as "bonuses"? The form Y17 from Kela says,

One-off compensations such as holiday pay or holiday, Christmas or other bonus should be reported separately...

Finnish: Kertaluontoiset suoritukset, esim. lomaraha, lomakorvaus, bonus, jouluraha jne., ilmoitetaan erikseen"

My understanding is that the bonus here are talking about the one-off bonus[es] and not incentives related to performance. Can somebody please help me with this? How would this be, e.g. sales people whose >60% of the income could be from incentives. Also, the incentives are considered as regular income for the purposes of taxation, so, can they regard it differently for the purposes of benefits?

Thanks.

Kind regards.

[Mook]

It's calculated the same as sick pay would be, so it's something like 70% of salary up to a certain amount, then 50% then 25%. It's calculated against the average of your total earnings over a certain period from a couple of years ago. IT can be can calculated on more recent salaries if it's substantially more (20% ???)

[network_engineer]

Hi mook, all,

Thanks for the reply, I am looking for more details on exactly how the calculations are done. How much percentage of what amount. I also need to understand if the incentives bonuses are calculated separately or as part of the regular income. Any idea where I can find that info?

Another question: Does the household income have any effect on the calculations? Needless to say, if yes, that is something odd and something that I would inherently dislike.

[Mook]

As I said, it's calculated on your salary, i.e. what you were paid.

[Hank W.]

Thumb rule: if its "means-tested" then the household income counts. Like the child care fees... the KELA pages do have the formulas, but then again you ask 3 KELA ladies and get 3 different answers...

[network_engineer]

Hi Hank, all,

Hank: "... the KELA pages do have the formulas..."

Could you please point me to the exact page? I am unable to find it, other than the page where one enters the details and gets the result. What I want is the actual "formula".

Thanks again.

Kind regards.

[Hank W.]

Well it is in the law.